John Bale
John Bale ( born November 21, 1495 Cove at Dunwich, Suffolk, † in November 1563 in Canterbury, Kent ) was an English clergyman and dramatist. He is regarded as one of the first author of the historical drama.
At age 12, he entered the Carmelite monastery in Norwich and went to Jesus College, Cambridge, where in 1529 he graduated later. He showed himself more and more as a declared enemy of the Roman Catholic Church, which brought him frequently to conduct interviews of his bishops.
His views represented Bale in his sermons, but also in mystery plays, which are partly dramatic parodies of the monarchy and the Church. At that time Thomas Cromwell under Henry VIII responsible for Ecclesiastical Affairs ( Vice Regent in Spirituals ) and a supporter of the independence of the English Church from Rome. Cromwell saw in Bale a useful tool for the dissemination of his ideas and protected him from the attacks of the cleric.
After the execution of Cromwell on July 28, 1540 had his supporters, including Bale escape. Bale and his family went to Flanders and did not return until after the accession of King Edward VI. Back in 1548. He was Bishop of Ossory in Ireland in 1552 and had to flee after Edward's death in 1553 again. He tried to Scotland to escape, fell into the hands of a Dutch adventurer, but was shipwrecked on the English coast, so that Bale was jailed and charged with treason. After his release he fled via Frankfurt to Basel. During these trips, he wrote.
After the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, he returned and got a job in Canterbury, Kent.
John Bale died in November 1563 in Canterbury.
Bales important work is the Illustrium Majoris Britanniae scriptorum, hoc est, Angliae, Cambriae, ac Scotiae Summarium ... ( Ipswich and Wesel, 1548, 1549), comprising five centuries of British history.
Other works
He attacked the papacy in dramatic poems to, ( printed in 1538 outside the UK ) of which four are known in detail, especially as Gods promises an Old Testament stiff mystery play, and very violent Temptation of our Lord.
In all he wrote 19 pieces according to his own statement, which went thus lost for the most part. Strange by mixing history and allegory is the only recently announced by Collier -made drama Kynge Johan (London 1838).